The Latest Breaking News from Charlotte Bellis

When COVID Authoritarianism Met Border Authoritarianism

All 194 countries in the World Health Organization imposed COVID travel restrictions. The authors of When the World Closed Its Doors argue it was a failure.

Reason · Feb 18, 2025

Quarantine lottery breached rights, New Zealand court rules

During the height of pandemic restrictions, thousands of New Zealanders desperate to return home essentially had to roll the dice month after month as they tried to secure a coveted bed in a quarantine hotel run by the military

The Independent UK · Apr 27, 2022

New Zealand's border quarantine has intercepted thousands of COVID cases, but is it time to retire the flawed system?

The controversy surrounding New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis, who has now accepted a place in border quarantine after initially seeking refuge in Afghanistan when her first application was declined, has highlighted confusion and concern over New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) system.

The Conversation · Feb 2, 2022

Pregnant New Zealand journalist in Afghanistan can go home

A pregnant New Zealand journalist who was stranded in Afghanistan by her home country’s COVID-19 border policy says she will return home after her government finally offered her a pathway back

The Independent UK · Feb 1, 2022

Pregnant New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis offered a way home from Afghanistan with place in hotel quarantine

New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis, who is pregnant and trying to get home from Afghanistan, is offered a place in hotel quarantine.

ABC News · Feb 1, 2022

New Zealand defends strict Covid quarantine after pregnant journalist ‘had to turn to Taliban’ for help

Charlotte Bellis, a journalist, says she was forced to return to Afghanistan after her application was met with ‘clauses and technicalities and confusion’

The Guardian - AU · Jan 31, 2022

Pregnant New Zealand journalist turns to Taliban for help after her application to return home gets rejected

The reporter said it is ‘brutally ironic’ that the Taliban have assured her she would be safe

The Independent UK · Jan 31, 2022

Pregnant NZ journalist Charlotte Bellis battling to return home as Afghan health system crumbles

A pregnant New Zealand journalist stranded overseas due to COVID-19 border restrictions is urging the NZ government to find a way to help women like her, saying she went public because her lawyer had represented 30 women who had been through it before.

ABC News · Jan 31, 2022

From Kabul, pregnant reporter fights NZ govt to come home

A pregnant New Zealand reporter has chosen Afghanistan as a temporary base for her uphill fight to return home because of her country's stringent COVID-19 entry rules

The Independent UK · Jan 30, 2022

Pregnant journalist turns to Taliban for help after New Zealand rejects her application to return home

The reporter said it is ‘brutally ironic’ that the Taliban have assured her she would be safe

The Independent UK · Jan 30, 2022